Sydney Roosters rounded off an eventful NRL pre-season campaign with a 28-16 victory over the Wests Tigers at a sodden Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
In a summer that has featured the arrival of Sonny Bill Williams, Michael Jennings, Luke O’Donnell, James Maloney and the appointment of new coach Trent Robinson, the Roosters go into the new campaign unbeaten after outscoring the Tigers by five tries to three to win the Foundation Cup.
The Roosters have a mouth-watering season opener against South Sydney on March 7 and will head into that game – where Williams will make his long-awaited debut – full of confidence.
Robinson’s side opened the scoring after 17 minutes through exciting young back-rower Boyd Cordner who was picked out superbly by Mitchell Pearce and darted his way to the line.
The hosts were in again from their next attack when giant winger Daniel Tupou leapt above Matt Utai to haul in Maloney’s crossfield kick.
The Tigers, who crushed Parramatta 41-4 in last Saturday’s trial, responded well after a quiet start and were rewarded for some enterprising play when Benji Marshall scored a try on the stroke of halftime.
The Kiwi playmaker was picked out by Robbie Farah’s perfectly-weighted grubber kick to dive forward and get his hand to the ball.
The second half saw both sides make a host of changes.
Tigers centre Chris Lawrence was forced off with a shoulder injury and Blake Ayshford went off with concussion after coming off second-best when tackling Aidan Guerra.
But it was the Roosters who looked the more likely to extend their lead after the break and Daniel Mortimer touched down under the posts following a break from Maloney.
Jennings added a fourth four-pointer when he showed his searing pace to latch onto Tupou’s hopeful kick.
Roosters back-rower Guerra crashed over 12 minutes from time to ice the victory before the Tigers scored two late consolations through Joel Reddy and Matt Utai.
Maloney finished with three goals in what was an encouraging display from the former Warriors five-eighth, with Marshall kicking two.
